Oshi no Ko

Now I'm even more convinced Aka plans to end the manga with this arc. I do hope noone ends up dead from the main cast, but who knows.

Yeah, the question of whether Aqua will play the deranged fan or his dad is up in the air. For the production it'd obviously be the former, but Aqua's plan seems to be to use the movie to ruin his dad's career and reputation at the very least, so I expect it to have at least a lot of pointers towards there being someone behind the killing.

Is this the first time we’re learning about the DVDs?

I don't recall this being mentioned before.

The story's going out of its way to justify Ai being played by Ruby, not Frill or Akane. It makes sense, but I don't see how much actual difference it makes.

If anything, I'd prefer Akane. She can impersonate Ai amazingly well, and it'd be interesting if Ruby was interacting with such a close facsimile—rather than outdoing her and acting even more similar.

I also want closure on Akane's relationship with Aqua.

Akane is visibly unhappy and also really good at balancing things in a weird way.

Just read volume 6, the Demon Blade arc… This series is really starting to fill the hole that Act-age left in my heart. With a stronger ensemble cast too. Too bad I feel like Ruby is a bit out of focus so far, but her turn will come, probably.

She will be the focus of next arc if I am not mistaken.

Chapter! A showdown, a confession, an accusation and a revelation. Also, the anime starts today.

The anime is airing new episodes at the same time new chapters release.

This is a serious 1-2 gut punch.

As for Ch. 115, objectively, Akane is doing great in this competition for the role of Ai by virtue of her audition actually acting as Ai.

Just listened to the anime's OP.

I...I can't be the only one who found the first 30 seconds or so of the song actually quite scary. It feels more like an OP for an horror anime, although I'm pretty sure it was very much intentional.

EDIT: Fixed to make the sentence more coherent.

Edited by dRoy on Apr 13th 2023 at 9:25:54 PM

The full song has a few even creepier parts but it is intentional.

Oh, what I heard was the full song.

Honestly, I'm kinda unsure if I should pick this series up. From what I'm hearing, this series pretty much sounds like a more colorful, 2020s' reincarnation of Perfect Blue. XP

Edited by dRoy on Apr 13th 2023 at 9:27:58 PM

The prologue arc may have some similarities but it is very different. It is like 70% insight on JP entertaiment industry (not just idol stuff) and 30% MC trying to find the person responcible for his mothers death and get a revenge. Plus there is a reincarnation element but it is secondary.

It's not all doom and gloom either, it has plenty of comedy and even some romance. Nowhere near as dark as Perfect Blue.

Perfect Blue isn't really that dark either (the director even said criticism of the film industry wasn't the point), though its tone is never as flat-out silly as some of the humor in Oshi no Ko.

I think "Perfect blue isn't meant to just be a criticism of the idol industry" and "Perfect blue isn't that dark" are two completely different sentences.

The latter not even being one I can believe because the movie when it's not outright fucking with your perception of what's even going on is pretty dreary (in a good way)

Edited by Mami on Apr 14th 2023 at 7:07:26 PM

Anime Trending did an interview with Ai's VA, Rie Takahashi.

Rie Takahashi is a big fan of Oshi no Ko even before taking on the role of Ai.

Interestingly, it sounds like the role she wanted more was as Akane, but she didn't make it through the first round of auditions for Akane.

She really wanted to be a part of Oshi no Ko and since she made it past the second round of auditions for Ai, she went all-in on the role of Ai.

Well she did a fantastic job, Anime Ai was highly charismatic.

Oh that is hilariously ironic.

I'm glad with what we do have, but I also think Rie Takahashi could do an excellent Akane.

Also, this first episode of the anime is attempting to fix any timeline issues.

You can see the smartphones from when Ai is still alive are 3G and 2007 is around the time there were 3G smartphones (specifically smartphones that looked like iPhones).

That being said, the usage of Twitter is not indicative of this first episode being around 2007.

Edited by IceAnt573 on Apr 15th 2023 at 5:52:04 AM

Episode 2:

A really big difference I've noticed from the manga is how much more the other B-Komachi members are being emphasized.

There's a picture in the anime of two of the original B-Komachi members with Ai/the twins as babies/Miyako/Saitou.

Also loving how they depicted Kana as “the kid who can lick up baking soda”. That was funny.

Episode 1:

Exactly as powerful as promised. Some parts are disjointed and feel like they would work better as their own separate episodes (mainly Kana's and Gotanda's introduction since that's the parts that aren't about Ai) but the decision of doing all of volume 1 in one extra-length episode was definitely the right call.

There's a lot of insane early characterization that I had wiped off my memory, like Gorou's weird vibes or how of a menace baby Ruby was. Miyako was also initially crazier than I remembered but this one I remembered better because her, uh... religious experience was such an iconic part of Act 1. It's amazing how fast she accepted the talking babies though.

Rie as Ai was one role pick I had little faith on but turned out ok. The standout performance was Kase as Gotanda. Genuinely couldn't have been better. Poor Aqua, however, got 3 voice actors in this episode and all 3 failed to impress.

Anyways, all the Ai was expectedly hard-hitting but the surprise emotional moment for me was Miyako asking the be the twins' official mother. It feels really special with me being so used to Miyako doing everything for them always. It was a promise with the weight of knowing she'll fulfill it stellarly. Sucks to say this on Ai's day, but Miyako is the Mother of the Year (Real).

Also, the post credits scene is highly unfair.

Chapter 115:

Oof, reading this immediately after watching the anime's debut was both the best and the worst idea. I feel like Aka and Mango folded my spine in 5. The aforementioned reminder of how Ruby always led so powerfully to the view under the mask. Combining that with Akane's display as Ai, it really feels like the duo matched my experience and wrote this immediately after watching the anime's first episode.

Gorou seemingly forgot that he was reborn as Aqua. Not even a subtle hint about this.